In the course of hunting for game, and in particular waterfowl, the hunter will remain in a particular location for long periods of time. During these periods of waiting for the game or birds to appear, it is unnecessary to actually hold the gun and have it at the ready. Rather, the gun may be conveniently placed nearby the hunter while waiting for game to appear or while the hunter is engaged in other activities such as manipulating bird calls, placing decoys. While a hunter on dry land may take advantage of several options and devices for safely holding a shotgun or rifle during intervals of non-use, the waterfowl hunter often will not have the luxury of being adjacent to dry land on which the gun may be positioned. Typically, hunting for ducks and other waterfowl will occur in damp, swampy land, or the hunter may actually wear waders and be in knee or waist deep water at the edge of a pond or lake. In such an instance, the shotgun cannot be set aside as the water, or at least swampy, damp ground would damage the shotgun. In the case of a hunter who has waded into the edge of a pond or lake, the depth of water in which the hunter is positioned will vary in depth. Due to this variance in depth, the hunter cannot count upon using a holder of a fixed or limited height as the depth of water will vary and the height of the gun support relative to the holder bottom must be varied accordingly with the water depth. In addition it will be appreciated that as the water depth varies, so must the length of gun holder that is to be extending below the gun be varied to account for the variations in water depth encountered by the hunter.
A number of prior art devices have been developed to assist with this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,971 to Balibrea teaches a gun caddy or gun holder which may be inserted into the ground by use of a stake 18, 20 and which provides an immobile base member 16 which is attached to shaft member 12 having a grip member 14 for support of the barrel. The Balibrea device would not be useful in marshy areas or in water flooded areas as the securing of the Balibrea device within the ground by stakes 18 and 20 would place the gun stock within the water or dangerously close to the water in the marshy ground, therefore, the Balibrea device lacks the necessary adjustability.
The device of Oliver, U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,939 presents a ground engageable gun support having parallel vertical shafts which are slidably connected by use of stabilizer brackets 11 having wing nuts 12 therein to secure vertical shafts in relative position to one another. While Oliver provides a means of adjusting the height of the gun above the surface into which the spiked end is to be inserted, the device is bulky and requires that two hands be available to create the height adjustment between the vertical shafts.
The need for two hands to effect adjustment leaves no hands available to hold the gun out of the water—a substantial limitation.
Another gun support device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,462 to Dockery. The Dockery gun holder does not allow for adjustment of the height of the gun support above the ground. The height of the gun support is determined by the point of contact of arm 38 with protrusion 34 of the Dockery device. Therefore, the location of protrusion 34 during the manufacturing process will dictate the height of the gun above the ground in the Dockery device. Thus, the Dockery device is not suitable for use in situations where variable depths of water will be encountered.
Another gun rest is encountered in U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,572 to Goode, Jr. The device of Goode, Jr. presents a gun support 28 which is fixed to shaft 22 by welding or other fastening means. Therefore, no adjustment is made for the height of gun support 28 above the ground or marshy water. Further, it will be appreciated that cross bar 34 of the Goode device is fixed at a certain height leaving a specific amount of shaft 33 which can be introduced into the ground until it is stopped from further movement by cross bar 34. This would limit the utility of the Goode device in marshy areas or water at variable depth. As stated in the description of FIG. 4, it is the object of the Goode device to allow the ground engaging member 33a to be limited in the amount of entry it will make into the ground thus making it easy to withdraw as the user walks and repositions member 33a to engage the bottom surface. Therefore, the device of Goode is the antithesis of a stable support for holding a gun.
Therefore, it would be a benefit to bird and waterfowl hunters if a gun holder were available that is collapsible and easily portable and yet easily adjustable in the length of the upright and adjustable in the positioning of the base of the gun holder so variations in water depth or the depth of the marshy ground before solid ground is reached may be accounted for in the use of the gun holder or gun support device.